When Carla Williams was named Virginia’s athletics director in October of 2017, she became the first female African-American athletics director at a Power Five conference institution. At the time, she was the fifth active female athletics director at that level. In 2019, she was named the Women Leaders in College Sports 2019 Administrator of the Year for all NCAA Division I FBS athletics programs.
Prior to Virginia, Williams served as an athletics administrator at the University of Georgia for 13 years and was named deputy director of athletics in 2015. During Williams’ tenure as an administrator at Georgia, its athletics teams won 16 NCAA team championships and 37 Southeastern Conference titles. A native of LaGrange, Ga., Williams was a three-year starter for the Georgia women’s basketball team from 1987-89. She coached at Georgia from 1991 to 1996 and then started a career in athletics administration that has included stops at Florida State and Vanderbilt. Her numerous community activities includes serving on the board for the Share the Magic Foundation.
